Friday, 03-07-08
We’ve been ‘drop dog central’ here . . . so far we’ve had 5 dogs (2 of John’s and 3 of Benoit’s). They’ve stayed here for a day or two then been shipped to Kotzebue. In years past, they have been picked up and taken care of by family friend, Donna Olson, in Knik but she recently broke her wrist so we agreed to do it this year. Our neighbors have not complained about the occasional howling (its kind of a long, low, howl like a wolf) and they have even indicated they enjoy hearing it – kind of a novelty for them I suppose.
I only went out on the trail on Monday (flew to Finger Lake and Rainy Pass) but did not see any of our teams while out there. Robyn got to go with me and she was thrilled. This was the first time for both us to those two check points and they were absolutely beautiful. Been on hold the rest of the week but enjoying following the race over the internet.
The weather has been nasty all week not only for flying in the Alaska Range as the warmer temps have caused fog, rain and generally bad flying conditions as well as making for a softer trail. Since John’s dogs are trained in colder temps, they are having difficulty adjusting to running in the warm temps (40 degrees). They’ve also been hit with a diarrhea bug. Hopefully, the farther north they go, the better they’ll do. McGrath was probably not John’s chosen stop for his 24-hour layover but he has had to do it in the past and his dogs have still bounced back to be in the top ten.
There’s still plenty of trail yet to burn. Keep an eye out for not only the obvious leaders – Lance Mackey, Jeff King, and Backen, but also Seavey, Gebhardt, and Martin Buser. An interesting one to watch this year is Rick Swenson as he is very determined and seems to be staying right up there. A newer mushers who will most likely do well is Steer. I’m hoping this will be good year for DeeDee too.
Lori Henry
Saturday, 03-08-08
We haven’t heard much. Judging from John’s times, he seems to have a healthy team. I don’t agree with Lori’s assessment that there was diareah going through the entire team. John did drop two more dogs in Ruby and haven’t heard why. Could be problems or perhads they just stopped pulling. My garage should be filled with three more drop dogs sometime this afternoon. I’ll keep you posted if I hear any insider news. The GPS deal show John into Galena at this point, but the standings have not been updated. He could be in better shape than 8th. Patrick
Sunday, 03-09-08
We just picked up the two dogs John dropped in Ruby, Kona and Ozzie. They are in good shape but both are in heat which means they were probably a major distraction to the rest of the team. When we called Iva, John’s wife, to let her know which dogs we got, I asked her how ‘key’ these dogs are to the team. She said they are young and not a major part of John’s team. She was not surprised that they would be the first to be dropped. Lori and I are enjoying being the drop dog lot for John’s team. This is good news. Hopefully John’s team is and continues to be strong and healthy. Patrick
Monday, 03-10-08
“At least one of the top 20 drivers going through here said this would be his last Iditarod for a long while, but that’s the kind of thing they’ll say when their eyes are red and swollen from lack of sleep and bodies ache from more than a week on the trail. A week after the finish and they’re already scheming for next year. That glum individual was not John Baker, who seemed to have more spark than others, maybe because the Kotzebue native is heading into his own country. He always seems happier here.
Baker, hovering around 16th place, described his team as “extremely slow” but that they picked it up just a little coming to Unalakleet. Maybe they smell home as well. “They’re doing fine, they’re just a slower team than I’m used to having,” he said. Baker ran straight to Unalakleet from Kaltag, taking four or five 15 minute pit stops, often just to re-bootie his dogs.
Booties have become a dirty word among the mushers this year. Bootying dogs is always a necessary but onerous and back-breaking task. But the soft snow on the trail this year forms ice balls on the booties, forcing mushers to either brush it off or replace the bootie more often than they’d like. Everyone is complaining about it. Asked if he’d run low on booties because of the conditions, Baker said unfortunately not. “It’d love to run out of those things,” which prompted a loud laugh from DeeDee Jonrowe, sitting nearby.”
Quoted from Eye on the Trail by Jon Little
Wednesday, 03-12-08
I haven’t heard any details from the race, but the last few drop dogs that have come in from John’s team had foot problems, splits on the pads. I’m wondering if John is having a cronic problem with that this year. Due to all the soft wet snow, the dogs were put in a situation that their pads were not acclimatized to. Their pads have been preped for a lot colder, dryer snow conditions. I’m sure John is nursing them along slowly just to get the finish under his belt. Lori is going to Nome tonight to support her bro. Should have more details and race stories soon after. John do in to NOME late tonight. Patrick
Wednesday Night, 03-12-08
Lori left for Nome to support her brother during his worst finnish of his Iditarod career….probably the best time for a supportive sibling to be at the finnish line. John is known to be ‘the good guy’ on the trail. All people involved with the race absolutely LOVE John Baker. He represents the face of this race like no other. He feels a responsibility to do that. But, there is no doubt that he is very frustrated with his showing this year…and he needs to blow off steam about it. There is no better person to tune into ‘John Baker’ in his time of need then Lori….so, she is off to be the good sister. Her flight gets in at about 9pm, John is do in at about midnight……..more to come! Patrick
Thursday, 03-20-08
Check out this article – “Dogs, dogs, more dogs March 2008 by Lori Henry
A nice write up by Lori of Lori’s and my experience as the ‘Dog Drop Division’ of Team Baker! Patrick
Photos courtesy of Lori & Pat Henry and Robyn Westlake.